Tag: Mount Scott

Merriam Point and Wizard Island (Crater Lake NP) – 08/04/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 8, 2024
1 Comment on Merriam Point and Wizard Island (Crater Lake NP) – 08/04/2024

When we decided to try and hike all 100 featured hikes in a single edition of each of the five areas covered in William L. Sullivan’s 100 Hikes books (post) we decided that the criteria for being able to check off a hike was doing (or attempting to do) at least a portion of the hike. Sullivan often provides multiple options for each featured hike with some options being 20+ mile one-way trips or nearly 30-mile loops. Doing every option in their entirety just wasn’t feasible when you also factor in having to deal with trail closures due to fires, damage, or restricted access.

In 2023 we completed the southern Oregon & northern California area (post), but missed out on a portion of three hikes in Crater Lake National Park. On Saturday we’d finished up two of the hikes, The Pinnacles and Lady of the Woods (post). The third hike that we’d been unable to do in its entirety was on Wizard Island which requires taking a boat from Cleetwood Cove (post). The boats did not operate in 2023, an issue caused by the previous contracted concessionaire, so we were only able to hike down to the docks at the cove on that trip.

We reserved tickets ahead of time for the Wizard Island shuttle which is a 15-minute boat ride from Cleetwood Cove to Wizard Island. There were two other tours available, one a trip around the lake, and the other stops at Wizard Island on its way around the lake. Had we not needed to get home the same day we would have opted for the latter, but a tour around the lake would need to wait for another time. We nearly blew the whole thing though.

Somehow we got it into our heads that our shuttle left Cleetwood Cove at 12:30pm. We slept in and left our room so that we’d arrive at Beckie’s Cafe in Union Creek when it opened at 8am. After eating, and buying a whole blackberry pie to share with my parents, we made our way to the park and stopped at several viewpoints along the rim to admire the views. The overcast and smokey skies from the day before had given way to big fluffy white clouds and relatively blue sky.
Llao Rock and Wizard Island

The docks on Wizard Island.

The views were so good even the golden-mantled ground squirrels were taking them in.

Mt. McLoughlin (post) and Union Peak (post).

Cassin’s finches

Mount Scott (post) across the lake.

Wizard Island’s Fumarole Bay

The Watchman (post)

Mt. Bailey on the left and Mt. Thielsen (post) on the right. You can’t really make it out in the photo but with the naked eye we could see Diamond Peak (post) in between the two in the distance.

Smoke from the Middle Fork Fire burning inside the park boundary.

Fire information at one of the viewpoints.

At this pull out we got out and hiked a little of the Rim Trail. I decided to just continue on to Merriam Point while Heather was nice enough to drive the car down and meet me.

Western pasqueflower seed heads.

Silvery raillardella

Hillman Peak (post)

The Watchman and Hillman Peak

Dwarf lupine

We were intentionally taking our time so we wouldn’t arrive way too early for our boat tour. We had been targeting 11am to give us an hour and a half but wound up arriving a little before 10:30. That wound up being a good thing because when we went to check in we noticed that there were two shuttle times listed, 9am and 11:30. After some confusion with our tickets, Heather inadvertently pulled up our Wallow Lake Tram (post) tickets from 7/26 (issued by the same online company Fareharbor), the attendant was able to find our reservation. It had been for the 9am shuttle and there was never a 12:30 shuttle. We’d messed up pretty good. The young man was very understanding and let us know that they still had three openings on the 11:30 shuttle and that he could move us to two of those spots. We were very thankful and quickly headed down the 1.1-mile Cleetwood Cove Trail to the check in at the dock there.

From left to right: Dutton Cliff, Applegate Peak, and Garfield Peak (post).

Our shuttle arriving at the docks below.

We checked in and got our boarding instruction then spent some time watching people jump into the lake from the rocks.

When it was time we boarded the boat which zipped us over to the island.

The boat traveled at about 35mph so I didn’t have too many chances to take photos. The exception was when we had to briefly circle back to retrieve someone’s hat that had flown off into the lake.

Nearing the island.

There are two short trails on the island, one leads to Fumarole Bay and the other to the top of Wizard Island’s cone. Most of the people in our group headed for the cone with a few heading to the bay to either fish or swim. We were also going to head up the cone first and had decided to split up and do our own thing then meet back up at the docks later.
The trails shared tread for the first tenth of a mile. (Toilets were to the right.)

In the line heading up to the cone.

Part of the reason we’d decided to hike our own hikes is because I have a slight competitive streak and tend to speed up when there are people ahead of us. It wasn’t long before I’d passed most of the other hikers and was just following a pair of younger guys from San Diego.

Looking up the cone.

The Watchman and Hillman Peak from the trail.

These two were setting a crisp pace and the only reason I was able to keep up was because they would occasionally stop for pictures and to admire the views.

Mount Scott

The trail was well graded keeping the 750′ climb from ever feeling too steep.

Prince’s pine

Buckwheat

Paintbrush

I managed to pass the Sandiegans shortly below the summit while they were taking a few more photos. Just before the summit a hiker from a different tour passed me as she was descending and mentioned that there wasn’t anyone left at the summit.
The summit crater also known as the Witches Cauldron.

A 0.3-mile loop circles the crater so I headed clockwise around the loop. The pair from San Diego caught up while I was taking photos and asked if I could take one of them before continuing on.
Mt. Scott from the loop.

Llao Rock

Dutton Cliff, Applegate Peak, and Garfield Peak

Crater Lake lodge on the rim to the right of Garfield Peak.

Crater Lake lodge.

Hikers across the crater starting the loop.

Looking down toward the dock area.

The Watchman and Hillman Peak.

Looking toward Cleetwood Cove.

Fumarole Bay is to the left of lava flow.

Pool in the lava flow.

After completing the loop I headed down for the Fumarole Bay Trail.

Dwarf alpinegold

Another boat tour heading around the island.

I had passed Heather on her way up and we spoke for a moment before going our separate ways.

Heading toward Fumarole Bay.

It’s approximately a half mile to Fumarole Bay on a very rocky trail due to it being in a lava flow.

The Watchman from the trail.

Fumarole Bay. Note the person fishing on the rocks to the right.

Fumarole Bay

Stream flowing into Crater Lake.

Hillman Peak

The trail continued around the bay for almost another half mile.

Bleeding heart

The Watchman

I believe this may be Felt-leaf everlasting.

An even fainter, rockier, trail continued beyond the sign marking the end of the maintained trail. I followed it for just a bit before losing it in the lava where I decided to turn around.

I made my way back around the bay and returned to the dock where I found Heather soaking her feet in the water.

Heather below at the edge of the lake. She had opted not to visit the bay.

I joined Heather as we waited for our return shuttle. In the meantime she took a quick dip in the lake to cool off.

Here comes our ride.

Once they herded everyone back to the dock we boarded the boat and rode back to Cleetwood Cove.
Arriving back at the cove.

We split up again on our way up the busy Cleetwood Cove Trail.

It got a little hazier as the day went on.

I was glad to make it back to the parking area where I changed into cooler clothes before using the restroom.

I ran into Heather as I came out of the restrooms so we walked back to the car together and prepared for our drive home. My Wizard Island hike came to 6.6 miles including 2.2 miles to and from Cleetwood Cove. Total elevation gain was a little over 1450′. Seven hundred of that was up from Cleetwood Cove which was steeper in sections than anything on Wizard Island had been.
Track including the boat rides.

My Wizard Island track.

It had been a beautiful day and a lot of fun to see the lake and surrounding peaks from the island. The smoke had somehow stayed away and so had the thunderstorms. Unfortunately storms did hit other parts of the Cascades along with central and eastern Oregon igniting more wildfires. We hit heavy smoke on our drive home between Odell Lake and Oakridge reminding us of just how bad this fire season has been. A big thank you to all the firefighters working hard to try and minimize the damage. Hopefully conditions will improve sooner rather than later. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Merriam Point and Wizard Island

Tags Beckie's Cafe, Cleetwood Cove, Crater Lake, Crater Lake National Park, Furmarole Bay, Govenor's Bay, hiking, Merriam Point, Mount Scott, Oregon, the watchman, Witches Cauldron, Wizard island, Wizard Island shuttle

Crater Lake Area High Cascades Hiking Oregon Trip report

The Pinnacles & Lady of the Woods (Crater Lake NP) and Pearsony Falls – 08/03/2024

Post author By derwoodynck
Post date August 7, 2024
1 Comment on The Pinnacles & Lady of the Woods (Crater Lake NP) and Pearsony Falls – 08/03/2024

In 2023 we took a trip to Crater Lake for a series of hikes as we pursued our goal of hiking at least some of all 100 featured hikes in William L. Sullivan’s “100 Hikes/Travel Guide Southern Oregon & Northern California” edition 4.2 (post). During that trip we were only able to complete part of three of the featured hikes due to two trail closures, The Pinnacles (post) and Lady of the Woods (post) and the boat tours to Wizard Island not operating (post). While we did check off those featured hikes for the purposes of our goal we vowed to return when the two trails reopened and the boat tours were operating.

The two trails reopened in 2024 and the company that had been contracted as the concessionaire for the park was replaced by ExploreUS. When the boat tours were announced for 2024 we planned a trip and made reservations. We scheduled a shuttle to Wizard Island for Sunday allowing us to do the other two trails on Saturday on the way to our lodging.

It was a smokey and overcast drive to park, but visibility was pretty good at the Pinnacles Trailhead.

The pinnacles are a result of gasses escaping superheated rocks after a volcanic eruption through vents and welding the pyroclastic deposits in their immediate vicinity

Mount Scott (post)

We followed the trail nearly half a mile to the former East Entrance to Crater Lake National Park.

Wheeler Creek below the trail.

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Coming up on the park boundary.

The former east entrance.

You can continue another half mile to FR 2304, but the best views are behind you at this point. We turned around here and returned to the car and headed for our next stop.

The second trail that had been closed in 2023 was the Lady of the Woods loop. The 0.7-mile loop starts at Park Headquarters, but we opted to park at the Castle Crest Trailhead instead.

Starting here allowed us to re-hike the 0.5-mile Castle Crest Wildflower loop then take a 0.4-mile connector trail to Park Headquarters for the Lady of the Woods loop.

Monkshood

Lewis monkeyflower

Monkeyflower

Lupine

Bistort

Hummingbird

Columbine and a visitor.

Fireweed

Bog orchid

Scarlet gilia

After completing the loop we headed for the headquarters.

Rim Drive and Park HQs.

Steele Visitors Center

We followed a pointer for the loop to the left of the visitors center.

Note the “The Lady of the Woods” sculpted in the boulder in 1917 next to the sign on the upper left side of the photo.

The loop climbed gradually through an open forest then passed an educational center that was formerly the superintendent’s residence.

Numbered posts were located along the interpretive loop.

Approaching the educational center.

Snow below the educational center.

Beyond the educational center the trail descended along a meadow and looped back to the Steele Center.

Arriving back at Park HQs.

Penstemon

Spirea

Completing the loop behind the visitor’s center.

We stopped in the visitor’s center for a moment then headed back to our car. The Pinnacles hike had been just under a mile and this hike came in at just 2.2-miles.

The Lady of the Woods and Castle Crest loops.

We had plenty of time and energy left for another hike and we’d chosen Pearsony Falls in Prospect, OR for our finale, but first we made a pit stop at Beckie’s Cafe in Union Creek for lunch. After our meal and securing a couple of slices of pie for later we drove to the Pearsony Falls Trailhead.

The trail starts at a large signboard and follows a wide path that soon reaches Mill Creek.

Oregon grape

We arrived at the falls approximately a third of a mile from the trailhead.

Pearsony Falls

The mist generated by the falls was hovering in front of them making it impossible to get a clear photo, but they were nice to look at none the less.

Random dude in front of the falls.

The trail continued beyond the falls another third of a mile to a viewpoint of the Avenue of Boulders on the Rogue River.

Madrones

We’d seen this feature from the other side during a hike to see Mill and Barr Creek Falls (post).

The trail continued beyond the viewpoint, so we did too, at least for another quarter mile. It was getting brushy and fainter as we neared Mill Creek again. When we looked at the GPS and saw that we had reached the end of the trail shown on that map. We turned back opting not to try and reach the lip of Mill Creek Falls.

Our turnaround spot.

We headed back passing quite a few other hikers along the way.

There was a slightly clearer view of the falls on the way back.

This hike came to 1.7-miles giving us a total of 4.8 for the day with just a little over 300′ of total elevation gain.

Ignore the “Barr Creek Falls” label to the upper left, the map has the placement wrong. Those falls are located along Barr Creek in the lower left corner.

We stayed in Shady Cove for the night with a view of the Rogue River. It was a little too smokey to sit out on the balcony, but we could see rafters drift by occasionally through the glass doors. Happy Trails!

Flickr: The Pinnacles, Lady of the Woods, and Pearsony Falls

Tags Avenue of Boulders, Beckie's Cafe, Castle Crest Trailhead, Castle Crest Wildflower Loop, Crater Lake National Park, hiking, Lady of the Woods, Lady of the Woods Loop, Mill Creek, Mount Scott, Oregon, Pearsony Falls, Prospect, Shady Cove, Steele Visitor's Center. Park Headquarters, The Pinnacles, The Pinnacles Trailhead, Union Creek

Crater Lake Area High Cascades Hiking Oregon Trip report

Union Peak – 09/17/2022

Our hiking focus this year has been primarily on the Southern Oregon and Northern California area. This was due in large part to that being the area where the majority of the remaining hikes were located for us to reach our goal of hiking Sullivan’s 500 featured hikes (post). Over the last couple of years we’ve canceled several trips down to this area due to wildfires (and associated smoke) as well as inclement weather. In fact we were starting to wonder if we might ever get the chance to finish the featured hikes from the area. This year things have been different, in fact we switched our August vacation from the Wallowas in Eastern Oregon to Northern California because the conditions, for once, were more favorable.

One of the trips we’d canceled in recent years was a four day stay in Union Creek. (Dangerous air quality due to wildfire smoke.) We had placed that trip back on our schedule for this year hoping for better luck. There were no fires in the immediate area but a number of fires were burning elsewhere in Oregon and Northern California which could still send enough smoke into the area to affect air quality. We kept a close eye on the weather and air quality forecasts and while the latter looked good the weather forecast was a little iffy. There was potential for showers including snow at higher elevations (7500′) as well as a slight chance of thunderstorms on a couple of days. The forecast was good enough for us to give it a try. Of the four hikes we had planned, two were not view dependent so we could rearrange the order depending on the forecast.

The forecast for Saturday was for partly cloudy skies with a chance of showers all day and a slight chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. We decided to attempt Union Peak despite the possible thunderstorms counting on summiting the 7709′ peak well before the arrival of potential thunderstorms. The most direct route from Salem to the Union Peak Trailhead is to take the West Rim Drive through Crater Lake National Park requiring the purchase of a $30.00, 7-day park pass. (Please note that both the Union Peak Trailhead and Union Peak itself are inside the park but do not require a park pass.) Since one of our other planned hikes started along West Rim Drive we would have needed a pass anyway so we entered the Park from the north entrance, purchased a pass, and then stopped at the Watchman Lookout Trailhead for a view of Crater Lake.
Wizard Island

The Watchman (post)

Hillman Peak and Llao Rock

We continued through the Park past the south entrance to Highway 62 where we turned right toward Medford for a mile to the Union Peak Trailhead.

It was a little before 9am which gave us plenty of time to complete the hike based on the weather forecast. Both Sullivan and the trailhead signboard indicated that it was an 11 mile out-and-back.
The sign calls this the “steepest” hike in Southern Oregon. We wondered what criteria that was based on?

The hike begins on the Pacific Crest Trail following it south for 2.5 fairly level miles to a signed junction with the Union Peak Trail.

There were a large number of big mushrooms along this section of trail as seen to the lower right.

One of the big shrooms.

A Stellar’s jay.

More of the big mushrooms.

Another Stellar’s jay.

Nearing the trail junction.

We veered right onto the Union Peak Trail which began with a gradual climb following a ridge toward Union Peak.

First glimpse of Union Peak through the trees.

Gardner Peak behind Goose Egg (center) to the SE.

Fireweed

It was cloudy but no showers so far and the clouds appeared to be well above the summit.

Townsend’s solitaire

I was so focused on Union Peak I failed to notice the deer to the right below until it and a nearby fawn bounded off.

Approximately 1.7 miles from the junction the trail passed an colorful rock outcrop on the right.

Mount Bailey in the distance to the right of the outcrop.

I missed more deer below the trail here, only noticing them when they started to run off.
The last doe keeping watch as the rest of the deer disappeared into the forest.

Beyond the colorful outcrop the trail dipped to a saddle then turned left at the base of Union Peak passing through a boulder field then onto a cinder hillside.

Golden-mantled ground squirrel

Western pasque flower seed-heads along the trail.

Looking up at Union Peak and wondering how the trail got up there.

Nearing the cinder field.

The trail switchbacked in the cinders providing a nice view of Crater Lake’s Rim.
Mount Scott (post) was the only peak covered by clouds.

The trail climbed back through the rock field and then came the steep part.

It’s always interesting to see the various rock that make up these volcanic peaks.

The Watchman and Llao Rock with Mt. Thielsen in between in the background.

That’s the trail on the right side of the photo.

Looking down at the trail below.

The trail was fairly easy to follow as it switchbacked up through the rocks. It was narrow in places which might be hard for those with a fear of heights.

The final pitch was more of a scramble than a hike though.

While there were no people at the summit the brush had attracted a fairly large number of yellow jackets.

I had reached the summit before Heather so I wandered back and forth along the top since every time I tried to sit down the yellow jackets took an interest in me, and I don’t do yellow jackets.
Looking west toward the Rogue-Umpqua Divide.

The trail along the ridge below Union Peak.

Lost Creek Lake (post) in the valley to the SW.

Mount Bailey, Diamond Peak (post), and Mt. Thielsen behind the rim of Crater Lake.

The rim of Crater Lake.

The combination of clouds, smoke, and the position of the Sun impacted the view to the south which on a clear day would have included both Mt. McLoughlin (post) and Mt. Shasta.
Mt. McLoughlin is to the far right with some clouds over the top. Starting from the left is Goose Nest, Goose Egg (with Gardner Peak behind), Maude Mountain (with a faint Pelican Butte behind to the right), Lee, Devil’s, & Lucifur Peaks (Mt. Shasta is behind those three.) followed by Mt. McLoughlin.

Heather joined me at the summit. Her dislike of heights had kicked in on her way up so she was ready for a nice break but after having been stung two weeks earlier the presence of the yellow jackets did not help her relax. We did however stay long enough for the clouds to start breaking up a little.

Mt. Bailey

The Watchman and Hillman Peak directly behind with Mt. Thielsen further in the distance.

Llao Rock

Applegate Peak

When Heather was ready we headed down. She was a little nervous but managed fine and we soon found ourselves crossing the boulder field again.

Looking back up from the rock field.

Mount Shasta arnica

By the time we were recrossing the ridge near the colorful outcrop a bit of blue sky had appeared behind Union Peak.

Bleeding heart

That trend continued and we imagined that the two hikers we’d passed on the way down were enjoying even better views than we’d had.

We had no complaints though. The smoke hadn’t been bad, we didn’t smell any at all until we were nearly back to the trailhead, and the clouds had kept the temperature down without raining at all. The Sun even made an appearance along the way.

One of several mountain bluebirds we spotted.

Bumblebees on a few remaining aster.

Sunshine

A sulphur butterfly.

Arriving back at the trailhead.

While Sullivan and the signboard listed this as an 11 mile hike our GPS came in at only 10 miles round trip. Either way there was 1600′ of elevation gain, much of which came in the final, steep, half mile.

From the trailhead we continued west on Highway 62 to the Edgewater Inn in Shady Cove, OR where we would be spending the next three nights. A quick check of the forecast for Sunday before bed revealed that “severe” thunderstorms were now forecast for Crater Lake overnight and Sunday called for clouds and a 50% chance of showers everywhere we’d planned on hiking. The good news was that our planned hike for Sunday was a visit to several lakes in the Sky Lakes Wilderness so showers wouldn’t really affect any views and getting some much needed precipitation was a lot more important than whether or not we would be getting wet on our hike. Happy Trails!

Flickr: Union Peak

Tags Crater Lake, Crater Lake National Park, hiking, Mount Scott, Oregon, Pacific Crest Trail, PCT, the watchman, union peak, Union Peak trail, Union Peak Trailhead